Upscale Aurora Clipper rc rg for G12 motors

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burkefj

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My other 150% upscale, inspiration was my Aurora Clipper, RC rocket glider for 24mm E-6 motors. This one is for 32mm g12 motors, 3"diameter, 37.5" wingspan, 58.5" long, 27.5 oz rtf.This one uses single-ply 9 mm depron foam for the wings and tail, two 1/8 inch carbon spars in each wing and one in the tail. it's a real fine line trying to make a big tail mounted RC rocket glider that isn't too heavy for the g12 motor, but big enough that the cg shaft is trimmable. It's much easier to do a forward mounted pod and boom type glider that meets the weight requirement. This one isn't low boom, this one's big- bada-boom
 

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I have been thinking of building a 3" diameter SST using building techniques similar to the DynaSoar 3" Orion Star Liner, which is G-powered. I have an abundance of 6mm depron, so the wing would be a 12 mm sandwich like the Orion. There is a thread on TRF that shows an SST model with the wing on the fusleage bottom like the above Aurora Clipper. I was thinking of putting the wing through the fuselage like the Orion.
 
As you know the weight is critical on this, the Orion starliner is just at the marginal point for weight anything heavier is not going to be a good boost, that's why I went to the 9 mm because it's lighter and I can use a bigger wing for the same weight. bottom mounted or mid-mounted won't really make any difference in terms of the strength or flight performance, it's just personal preference, I like bottom-mounted cuz I don't have to put a big mega slot in a long tube.

I have been thinking of building a 3" diameter SST using building techniques similar to the DynaSoar 3" Orion Star Liner, which is G-powered. I have an abundance of 6mm depron, so the wing would be a 12 mm sandwich like the Orion. There is a thread on TRF that shows an SST model with the wing on the fusleage bottom like the above Aurora Clipper. I was thinking of putting the wing through the fuselage like the Orion.
 
I'm not sure what you mean? It's mounted just like the smaller models with a bt-55 tube in the middle, open in the front so I can put longer or shorter motors in and use a tape thrust ring.

So, how are you doing the G-motor setup?

Model looks really cool, as usual.
 
I see that this Clipper is about 5" longer than the Orion, so it is a big model. How did you attach the wings to the fuselage? Did you need to sand the depron at the wing joint?
 
I cut the bevel, but that glue joint doesn't really do that much, tape holds the stress, it's just glued to the tube on both sides and with the reinforcing strips on each side, just a big version of the kit I do, construction is identical, just beefier.

Frank

I see that this Clipper is about 5" longer than the Orion, so it is a big model. How did you attach the wings to the fuselage? Did you need to sand the depron at the wing joint?
 
I received my demo H-13 17 second burn motor from Gary today, re-balanced her, took just a 3s 800mah battery in the nose instead of the 1s 500mah to balance, ginned up an adapter to go from 32mm to 29mm which will help insulate the motor mount as well. Plan to fly her this weekend, sims show it going close to 1700' Assuming this flight goes well, I've re-balanced my big YF-12 and Avro Arrow for this motor. The propellent weighs 2.3 oz more than a G-12 propellent slug, so it will be more nose heavy at burnout but the altitude should more than make up for that. Nice thing is these are below 120gm propellent and the loaded model is under 3.3 lb(32.8 oz rtf) so no waiver required!
 
The motor is about 7 in Long, the avro arrow and Aurora clipper just have an open motor mount at the front so the long motor just sticks forward more into the empty body tube.
The YF-12 has the wing going through the middle of the body so the recess that's cut in the wing for the motor only allows about 5 in, so this motor in that case would stick out the back end two inches.

This model is pretty big and I can generally see four in rockets up over 2,000 feet without any problem, so we'll see.

How long is the H13? Do your models already have a motor mount long enough to accommodate a longer motor? Holy Cow!, 1700'! Can you see a model that high up to fly?
 
Here is the flight today, it was a bit slow for pure vertical boost so I kept the angle about 20 degrees off from vertical and flew a corkscrew pattern to keep it overhead, flew to about 1200 feet this way with a very nice glide.
That looks terrific! It must have been fun to fly that corkscrew under power. So, the corkscrew is a little bit of roll with a little bit of up or down elevon?

It looks like you had a very busy day. I assume fire restrictions are not a problem at your location.
 
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yeah exactly just a little bit of roll in a little bit of pitch to get a corkscrew, we had rain for the last two days of the field is pretty moist

That looks terrific! It must have been fun to fly that corkscrew under power. So, the corkscrew is a little bit of roll with a little bit of up or down elevon?

It looks like you had a very busy day. I assume fire restrictions are not a problem at your location.
 
Hey, that's the first pic I've seen where you're smiling. :)

I'd be smiling too if I were holding that gorgeous thing. The last picture it looks real.
 
I want to thank Frank for pointing out to me that my SST, which is similar to his Aurora Clipper and Orion, would be a good candidate for the H13. He also pointed out that I can get a 4-foot extension for my 6-foot 1010 rail.
 
I whipped this up today, in an attempt to get a bit lighter for the H-13 reload, I'd been thinking about it for a while, finally did it.
This time the glider is based on another of my kits, the glider from the Orbital Transport, upscaled from 2.6" to 4" bt-101 based, waiting for stickershock decals but otherwise done. All ready to go it's 23 oz which is 2.5 oz lighter than my Aurora Clipper I flew this weekend on that motor. 30" wingspan, 53" length. 30.25 oz rtf with H13
IMG_20201001_084705365~2.jpg
 
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Here is the flight today, it was a bit slow for pure vertical boost so I kept the angle about 20 degrees off from vertical and flew a corkscrew pattern to keep it overhead, flew to about 1200 feet this way with a very nice glide.


Did you intentionally go off vertical to keep it below the cloud deck on boost? I was thinking that was literally going to go out of site (either from clouds or just distance!) if it had stayed vertical for the whole 17 second boost.

So this is an H motor rocket that stays under the High Power Waiver limits? I heard you say it is 32 oz, so obviously under the mass limit.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) definition of a high-power rocket is one that has a total weight of more than 1,500 grams (3.3 lb) and contains a motor or motors containing more than 125 grams (4.4 oz) of propellant and/or rated at more than 160 Newton-seconds (40.47 lbf·s) of total impulse, or that uses a motor with an average thrust of 80 newtons (18 lbf) or more.
 
Yes I intentionally flew in a corkscrew mostly to keep it in sight as I was worried about how small it was going to get, based on the simulations, and the fact that the way the pads were set up I had to be 300 ft away. The cloud deck was actually at 7,000 ft agl. Total propellant weight is 116 g. Far 101 only requires less than 125 g of propellant and less than 53 total ounces, so this should be legal for far 101 launches however it does have total impulse greater than 160 which means it is a high power motor and you would need certification, but not a waiver.


Did you intentionally go off vertical to keep it below the cloud deck on boost? I was thinking that was literally going to go out of site (either from clouds or just distance!) if it had stayed vertical for the whole 17 second boost.

So this is an H motor rocket that stays under the High Power Waiver limits? I heard you say it is 32 oz, so obviously under the mass limit.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) definition of a high-power rocket is one that has a total weight of more than 1,500 grams (3.3 lb) and contains a motor or motors containing more than 125 grams (4.4 oz) of propellant and/or rated at more than 160 Newton-seconds (40.47 lbf·s) of total impulse, or that uses a motor with an average thrust of 80 newtons (18 lbf) or more.
 
I'm not sure what you mean by "and cutting for the wing parts"

for the dihedral, for the kit I just let the wingtips touch the tabletop when the wing is placed upside down on the body tube, but you can use a bit less if you want.

Frank

Any additional tips on the angles and cutting for the wing parts on the dihedral wings?
 
I'm not sure what you mean by "and cutting for the wing parts"

for the dihedral, for the kit I just let the wingtips touch the tabletop when the wing is placed upside down on the body tube, but you can use a bit less if you want.

Frank
I'm talking about the wing joint in general. So, maybe you cut a little bit off where the two wings butt together, but maybe not. Perhaps that is just taped on the underside. Then there there are the two long thin reinforcement strips that go on each side of fuselage/wing attachment.
 
I got a slight bevel in both wing panels and then tape the bottom joint with blender and in this case I also used some 2-in wide packing tape. I do put glue in the wing joint before I flip it over and lay it on the body tube to glue to the fuselage but I'm not really worried that there's a perfect butt joint in the wings most of the strain is taken by the glue joint from the wing to the body tube and on those reinforcing strips on each side.
I'm talking about the wing joint in general. So, maybe you cut a little bit off where the two wings butt together, but maybe not. Perhaps that is just taped on the underside. Then there there are the two long thin reinforcement strips that go on each side of fuselage/wing attachment.
 
I'm looking at the large Aurora Clipper described in the first post and there is a good photo in post no. 18. I am estimating that the fuse length is between 46.5 and 47.25 inches. I estimate that the wing length is about 36.25" long. This bird uses a lot of depron.
 
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